A Fish Out of Water

Christmas

The last post was about our trip to Thailand this March, so of course the next post should be about Christmas. Logically. I'm just glad I'm getting one last post up before 2013, which in this neck of the woods is starting in a few hours.

Ikea, pretty much the only place that sells live trees in Japan for a somewhat reasonable price, sold out before I could get one. So rather than shell out the few hundred dollars they were asking at the fancy import shops I scoured the local park on one of our regular visits and came up with this Charlie Brown style tree.

We also had a more traditional looking tiny fake one, just so Shuma would know what a Christmas tree is supposed to look like.

Shuma got into the Christmas spirit by wearing a festive shirt that his grandma sent from Canada.

And I got into the spirit by attempting the strawberry santas that my sister-in-law made a few years back. I tried a cheesecakey type filling rather than whipped cream (which I don't really like) but it just turned out kind of slippery and sad-looking and I really didn't like the end result. There were no complaints about the taste though, especially not from Shuma who ate most of them. This was just practice for a couple of Shuma's playgroups' Christmas parties, which we ended up not attending as I came down with the flu in mid-December. Remind me to get the flu shot next year.

We traditionally open one present each on Christmas Eve and did so this year too, even though we weren't following the calendar this year as Hideaki worked on the 25th. So the 22nd was our Christmas Eve and I got Hideaki some flannel pajamas (so he could wear them right away!) and he got me a new camera, to replace my two broken ones. It's nifty and has a touch scren and a million features that I don't know how to use. I don't remember what Shuma got, probably the first of 97 Thomas trains.

Shuma didn't really get the whole Santa thing. Maybe he's slow for 2 years and 3 months, or maybe I just didn't talk it up enough, but he wasn't into it. He did eventually learn to recognise and say "Santa", which he pronounces "dada". (Actually fairly accurate, he might be smarter than we give him credit for.) But if he didn't understand why we hung our stockings, he sure knew what was in them the next morning. And when he realized that the true meaning of Christmas is presents, he got right into it.

It was easily his best day ever. He looks pretty calm here but there were times when he was so excited he was shaking. It was cute, at least until bedtime when our normally excellent sleeper turned into a monster and refused to allow the day to end.

Us grownups kind of overdid it on the mimosas and needed to rest in the afternoon, and I ran out of time to prepare a proper Christmas dinner. So we had oyster soup, blue cheese and pear salad, and steak with mashed potatoes and it was better than any turkey dinner I could have done. I am so unused to having a working camera so I forgot to get a picture, which is sad because those were some good steaks. They weren't top-quality wagyu or anything, just the cheapest Japanese beef I could find, but I fried them perfectly. Dessert was a traditional Japanese Christmas cake, which is a strawberry shortcake in the rest of the world. It looked fabulous but I dropped it on the way home (see "mimosas" above) and this is the messy redecorated version. Shuma basically ate everything on the top and most of the rest of it, leaving a few crumbs of the cake part for us.

The next day we visited my sister-in-law and her family. This is Marya, about to turn 8, and Yuuki, just-turned 2.

We had an excellent lunch and were going to bake and decorate cookies but ran out of time, but we did manage to do a gingerbread house. We used a kit from Ikea so it should have been easy, but it a first for everyone involved so it was rough going for a while, and I'm amazed it all stayed together. That's Shuma's santa suit Marya is wearing- I guess we're going to get a few years' use out of it.

Another Christmas donut, just because.

On the calendar Christmas Hideaki was able to get home early (in Japan that means around 8:00) so we did our real Christmas dinner that day. I stayed sober and everything. The chicken was bought already cooked, which is something you can really only do on Christmas in Japan.

Served with mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted carrots, butternut squash and turnips, steamed brocolli and stuffing (not in the picture as I forgot to serve it).

We also saved a present for Shuma and got to use the new pickle ornament my mom sent. It's apparently a German an American tradition in which a pickle is hung on the tree on Christmas Eve and the first child to spot it the next morning gets a special prize. Shuma loves pickles (which he calls "gicko") so of course spotted it right away. I think he was kind of disappointed that his prize was another present and not an actual pickle.

Now it's time to start cooking the toshikoshi soba, because the new year is almost here. May you all have a wonderful 2013!

Thailand Days Three and Four

Our trip to Thailand this March already seems like ancient history, so I'm just going to put up some pictures from the last two days before I completely forget everything. At this point it's more for more for our own memories (this blog is basically an online scrapbook) than anything else, so feel free to ignore this post!

Breakfast at the hotel on the third day.

In a tuk-tuk headed to the beach.

View from the tuk-tuk, which in Phuket has four wheels rather than the three usually seen elsewhere. The sides and back are completely open, which makes for great views but also a rather harrowing trip with a baby on your lap- there are no seat belts, let alone carseats. It's amazing how fast we abandon our ideas of safety when we're on vacation.

 

This is Karon Beach, chosen based on glowing reviews from a few websites our (Japanese) guidebooks. Trouble is, every beach mentioned gets a glowing review, so it's pretty much a crapshoot. The guidebooks and major tourism websites make each beach sound amazing, and then the forums and review sites will have someone saying a certain beach is the most awesome beach in the world, another person saying it's a garbage-strewn hellhole of a tourist trap, and some old grump saying it used to be heaven but has just gone downhill since "The Beach" came out blah blah blah. I swear, every single beach had the same comments. This is where a good English-language guidebook would have come in handy, but I had just assumed I'd be able to find out stuff once we were there. But no, we weren't staying at the kind of place where strangers actually talked to each other, so we had to waste precious time looking stuff up.

So Karon Beach wasn't that bad, it was just really crowded and really, really long. The tuk-tuk dropped us off right in the middle, where the lounge chairs were three rows deep, and we decided to walk to one end of the beach where it seemed less crowded. It took ages and the incline was steep, so it wasn't a particularly nice walk, but let us notice an interesting phenomenon: that the people on the beach, who seemed to be mostly Scandanavian and Russian, seemed to enjoy being in the most crowded areas. There'd be a stretch, usually near a hotel, where every single chair was occupied, and then a few steps away the crowd would thin out by more than half. And nobody bothered to move a few chairs down. These people were either incredibly lazy or actually preferred to be surrounded on all sides by strangers. Very bizzarre, especially because we were already feeling lame about having to come to such a big crowded beach based on an online review, instead of finding the most secluded little beach that only the locals know about and must be reached by longboat and a three-hour hike, which is exactly what we'd have done if we weren't with a baby.  

So after walking forever we found a spot where there were only two rows of chairs and hardly any people. We set up camp and took turns in the water (it was too steep and deep for Shuma so he stayed on the beach). We bought some corn-on-the-cob off of a roaming vendor, and discovered that corn is an excellent beach snack. It rained a bit, which delighted Shuma and caused the few people around us to leave (wouldn't want to get wet!). We got beers and a fresh mango from a beach hut, and were mildly outraged that it cost the same as it would have in Japan. But you can't put a price on an ice-cold beer on a hot day at the beach.

  

When we got hungry we walked into town for lunch. This is the main drag, described in our Japanese guidebook as looking just like California (meant in a good way, apparently). The other tourists were mostly blonde, wealthy and rude.

 

All of the places to eat had the same menu, so we decided to choose a place that was at least nice-looking. This turned out to be our most expensive meal and further enforced a theory we'd been developing: that the more money you spend in Phuket, the more hostile the staff are. I swear, the nicest, kindest, friendliest people were at the little street stalls, and at the more expensive tourist restaurants the servers tended to be grumps.

 

So we had spring rolls and beer to start, and I had green curry (with another bear-shaped rice!).

Hideaki ordered laarb gai (minced chicken) but I ended up eating as it turns out he can't eat kaffir lime leaf (at least we think that's what it was). We thought we were safe keeping him away from cilantro, but no. The laarb was actually really tasty, more herby than spicy which allowed me to share with Shuma.

Back at the beach the rain started back up, really hard. We actually saw walls of rain headed toward us and moving away, which was cool. Shuma thought it was the best thing ever and refused to stay under the umbrella, so we let him roam free.

When we'd had enough we headed back into town to find a ride home, stopping at this stall to buy some fruit.

On the way back to our hotel we passed lots of interesting architecture, mostly in this Sino-Portuguese style.

Also enough Family Marts to make us feel like we hadn't left Japan, and then the beginnings of a promising-looking sunset.

On our way to dinner we stopped for snacks at the collection of vendors that set up along Kalim Beach each night. Unlike the more permanent stalls in the area, which have a basic picture menu in English, these stalls had no menus and we weren't sure if we'd be welcomed. But everyone was friendly and although it must have been a pain in the butt for them to deal with a family of bumbling tourists, we were able to order and pay through a mixture of gestures and writing.

We got a bunch of things on sticks, including quails eggs fried in wonton wraps and a selection of grilled meats, the best of which was this chicken wing.

We finished with some fried bananas and sweet potatoes and this amazing crepe-like thing topped/filled with egg, banana and chocolate.

Everything was delicious and we would have had our whole meal here but the sunset was over, it was getting dark, and we had to pee. And mainly, the only place for diners to sit was along the rocky beach, which was starting to come alive with rats, and that was just a bit too much for me. I won't even use Shuma as an excuse for that one. We were kind of glad to get a seat at a big touristy place.

I got a big fried fish topped with veggies in a spicy sauce, and it was very good. Hideaki got some kind of stir-fry, and I finally got to have one of my all-time favourite desserts that I haven't had in years because it doesn't seem to exist in Japan:

Sticky rice with mango. This was a really fancy version, with extra coconut milk to pour on top, and I was a happy girl. Yes, I realize this is easy to make, and I've done it, but I'm the only one in the house who likes it and Thai sticky rice is rather pricey and hard to find. I keep thinking I'll find this at a Thai restaurant in Tokyo, but it never happens (usually it's just tapioca).

Breakfast the next morning started with the mangosteens we'd bought in Karon Beach.

Shuma and I loved them, Hideaki slept through it. Then it was one last breakfast at the hotel (topped with  fried egg after the picture was taken):

We tried a different beach, which had nearly identical descriptions and reviews to Karon but turned out to be nothing like it at all: Kamala Beach. It was smaller, less crowded, surrounded by pretty jungly hills, and the people (tourists and locals alike) were laid-back and friendly. We ended up at the far end, which had fewer people and was where the fishing boats docked.

The beach was perfect for little kids, with gentle waves, very shallow water and broad sandbars.

We snacked on some fruit we'd picked up on the way, and then the family we were renting the lounge chairs from brought us a plate of pineapple!

No idea if they do this for everyone or not, but it was so nice of them. And it was the most delicious pineapple we had in Thailand (which is saying a lot).

We attempted some sandcastles but had to give it up, and until Shuma is much older I don't think we're going to be making anything spectacular.

Lunch was at a place on the beach, starting with some really excellent calimari, soft enough for Shuma to eat. And of course fancy drinks.

Shuma loved the coconut lid, and when he'd scraped off the coconut jelly he used it as a phone (he was in a telephone phase at the time).

I had shrimp with Thai basil, and Hideaki had some sort of rice noodle soup, both excellent.

 

In the afternoon we watched the fishing boats come in, which was neat. We started to get really sad, since we were leaving early the next morning. We'd actually had a sudden idea of extending our trip that morning but were completely unable to get in touch with our airline or travel agent, and wasted precious time on the phone and online. We still had a glimmer of hope that afternoon and spent some time looking for a place with a computer and phone we could borrow.

 

It was futile, and I wish we could have relaxed a bit more and enjoyed it. Actually no, I really wish I'd argued more strongly for a longer trip, as Hideaki had wanted to keep it short and was already rather reluctant about the whole trip. But how were we to know that he'd fall in love with the place?

So when it started to get a bit chilly we sadly made our way to the street to find a ride home, lingering to watch the little crabs dig their holes and smell the frangipani.

When one last attempt to contact the airline failed with consoled ourselves with a treat from a cafe. We ordered ice coffee, which was terrible (I think they just used instant coffee) and the only drinks we had in Thailand that weren't really good. But the honey-banana pancake made up for it. It was so puffy it was almost a souffle, and really tasty.

We saw the sunset from our tuk-tuk, and instead of going back to Kalim we stopped at Patong. Patong is the main beach and town of Phuket, a big crowded tourist trap packed with hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, souvenir shops, massage parlours and girly bars. We'd been avoiding it but figured we should see it once before leaving. And it was exactly as expected, and we never ever have to go back.

We did find a good place to eat- a fairly authentic looking open-air noodle shop. This assessment was based on the bare-bones decor, the condiments at the table, the dog casually napping on the floor and the fact that all of the customers seemed to be Thais (of course by the time our food came and I started taking pictures all of the customers were blonde tourists).

The tables had all the proper do-it-yourself condiments and a plastic toilet paper dispenser (you know you're at an authentic Thai eatery when the restrooms don't have toilet paper but the tables do).

We shared some sort of noodle dish and mixed satay. The noodles were full of mystery ingredients which was fun, and it was my first time trying Thai satay (I've always thought satay was Indonesian?) and it was good. Shuma wasn't impressed with either and just at the free cucumber pickles.

Then more noodles and roast duck, also really good. And then we went back to Kalim and went through a ridiculous fuss off checking out of our hotel and into another (our package didn't include a room for the last night since we had a 4am flight, but we really needed somewhere to rest for a few hours). It was a totally dumb arrangement for a family and we were already sad and grumpy about not being able to extend our trip, so it totally sucked. Our fault for choosing this particular tour though.

We had a long stopover in Hong Kong, which turned out OK as it's a nice airport. Good play areas, nursing rooms and change rooms for the kid, and good eating too. Of course many of the restaurants were only serving a breakfast menu but I made out OK with the set above: congee, shrimp dumplings and some sort of flaky meat-filled pastry. Hideaki for some reason ordered noodles with pork knuckle and found it a bit much to handle for breakfast.

Rather than getting something else, he generously let us use the last of our Hong Kong dollars to get dessert: egg tarts, mango pudding and milk tea, hot and iced. So, so good, all of it, and although I was already stuffed from breakfast and the mango pudding was apparently a few servings' worth, we finished it all. I really want to visit Hong Kong for real sometime, not just the airport.

Shuma spent the rest of the stopover trying to break into this vending machine, which was fine by us as it kept him busy. He was really good on both flights back, but had a breakdown during the last half hour of the bus ride home from the airport. I felt bad for the other passengers but immensely relieved that he saved it for the end. Poor guy.

Hideaki had a few more days off, which we spent being bummed about being back in Japan. If we ever get to take another family vacation it will not be a Japanese-style four-day package tour, and we'll use up all of our vacation days for it.

See more pictures from the trip here.

Osaka

So we're back in Japan and have already spent a week with the in-laws in Osaka. Here are a bunch of pictures kids, which until I get my life back are the only kind of pictures I am capable of taking. The kids in question are Shuma, looking happy above because he's getting a treat at Tully's, and cousin Yuuki, with Shuma on their cool new PlasmaCar...

...and cousin Marya.

Shuma had some exciting firsts on this visit, including his first-ever pudding, which much to my dismay he loved (I'm not a pudding fan), his first doughnut (he liked it, I approved), his first sugar-bomb cereal (he actually prefers crunchy granola!) and first coin-operated ride at a shopping centre.

A not-so-great first was aggression toward a peer, in this case poor Yuuki. Shuma liked to grab his pony tails, pull his clothes, steal his toys, push him out of the way- apparently all pretty normal for this age but not very fun for Yuuki. Let's hope he grows out of this stage quickly.

 

 

Happy Father's Day!

Just in case you were wondering why I haven't been posting: we're back home in Canada for a visit. I love being back and seeing my family and just relaxing, and Shuma loves all the attention and the space, especially the back yard. We miss Hideaki though.

He keeps asking me to take pictures and I keep forgetting to take them, or when I do I don't upload them (I rarely open my laptop, which may be a contributing factor to why I'm enjoying myself so much). So here's one from a few days ago, with a promise to upload more to Flickr.

Happy Father's Day to Hideaki and all the other dads out there!

Rain, rain

Rain, rain, don't go away. Little Shuma wants to play!

Yup, the kid loves rain, and who am I to keep him out of it? Thankfully his grandma sent him a raincoat a few months back, so he can keep dry in style. She sent some adorable rainboots too, but they're still too big so I got him a pair with froggies on them. He loves them and has been wearing them around the house, so was very glad to get to use them for their intended purpose.

Just one problem: he very quickly found a puddle that was deeper than his boots. Mom, you're going to have to send some thigh-high waders next!

 

Dinosaur Suit

Grandma sent this stripey number from Canada, and even though it's meant for the summer Shuma's already wearing it. A long-sleeved onsie and skinny pants add warmth without distracting from the friendly T-Rex.

Here's a closer look. I didn't think I'd get Shuma to stand still, but then he learned how to blow bubbles and all he wanted to do was stand around doing bubbles. I'm really proud of him, but it's kind of boring- when I was blowing bubbles for him at least I had something to do. He's cute to watch though, especially when he takes a break from blowing to say "Bubble" (pronounced "ba-bow" with a long, drawn-out last syllable).

This outfit even offers something for the back view, thanks to his nifty new shoes.

Thailand Day Two

Our second day was pretty uneventful, so I'll take this opportunity to show our hotel. We stayed in Kalim, a tiny bay just north of Patong, at Kalim Resort, and as I said in the last post the "resort" is a misnomer, but it was nice enough. When planning the trip it seemed to be the nicest hotel of all the affordable packages I saw, and it turned out to be clean, with spacious rooms, friendly staff (who totally doted on Shuma), a basic but nice pool, and decent breakfast.

The other guests mostly seemed to be on package tours as well, so I guess that's how they get most of their businesses. At least half of them were Japanese, with mostly Koreans and Europeans making up the rest. We heard so much Japanese at breakfast that we felt like we'd never left, and I got so used to it that one morning I couldn't understand the table next to me and asked my husband "Sore wa nani ben?" (What dialect is that?) to which he replied "Kankoku ben." (It's Korean). Which doesn't sound as good when translated into English but was pretty funny. I swear, Korean can sometimes sound a lot like Japanese.

Here's a mystery: despite all of the Japanese people at our hotel (and presumably other hotels, as Phuket is very popular with Japanese tourists), we never ever saw Japanese people when we were out. We'd occasionally see vans in the hotel parking lot being loaded or unloaded with them, but I have no idea where they went. And many of the girls were really dressed up, with the latest fashions and full make-up and fancy bouffant hairdos and high high heels, so they were going somewhere. Very strange.

Our room had both a double and single bed (when booking it seemed like all the rooms do), and we would much rather have had the extra space for Shuma to run around than the extra bed (not that the room was small though). They forgot the crib the first night and we were too tired to ask about it so we put Shuma to sleep in the single bed, and of course he fell out (landing of course on the hard floor instead of the extra pillows we'd put on down in anticipation of just such an accident). It bothered us more than it bothered him, though, and he was fine.

 

The crib appeared on the second day and everything was good after that. To prevent Shuma from breaking anything, we made a few rearrangements like unplugging the TV, hiding remotes and the alarm clock, and so on, and the cleaning staff left everything in place, which was appreciated.

The bathroom had both a bathtub and a spacious shower, big enough for Shuma and one of us to both fit comfortably. And plenty of space to put toilettries and stuff, which is great after years of Japanese hotels (and homes for that matter, including ours) that have absolutely nowhere in the bathroom to put anything.

The balcony was nice but had no chair (I think they would have brought us a plastic one if we'd asked, as some other balconies had them). We had a frangipani tree right outside our window and, like all rooms, a view of the pool.

So the downsides: it was rather bland and lacking in Thai character, and there was a mosque near by and the calls to prayer (particularly the one at dawn) were rather distracting. With the air conditioning on and balcony door shut it was hardly noticeable, but quite loud with the door open. The location was good in that it was away from the crowds of Patong yet close enough to get there if needed, by a long walk or short tuk-tuk ride. And bad in that it was not really close to anything else, so you had to pay to get anywhere and there weren't many options for meals nearby.

Here's the second day's breakfast: pad thai, seafood and vegetable stir-fry, rice and a fried egg.

Shuma ate well every morning, enjoying the noodles and rice and really liking the fruit. He also loved the juice, which we normally don't let him have full strength (he gets a juice diluted with water for breakfast only). On this day he drank way too much, too quickly, and shortly after this he spit up all over everything. It was amazing to see how quickly the staff, who before had been lavishing attention on Shuma, disappeared. When finally approached they were very very reluctant to give us extra napkins to mop things up. I didn't expect anyone to help us clean up- who wants to deal with baby vomit?- but geez, a few napkins are not a big deal. We ended up getting everything cleaned up and were careful with the juice after that, but boy were the staff cold that day.

So back to the room for a quick change of clothes. Then we headed to Phuket Town, which was kind of a mistake but I was hoping to find some sort of open-air market. We'd missed the famed weekend market the night before but I thought there still might be something. I also wanted to visit a western-style shopping centre to see if we could find swim diapers, as the ones we brought were too small. It turned out that the market we found had half their stalls closed (all of Phuket Town was like this, and we weren't sure if they were closed for a holiday or out of business or what) and Hideaki couldn't handle the smell so we had to leave (if I ever get my wish of a trip across Asia, he is NOT invited). Also, no luck on the diapers.

I had hoped Phuket Town would be more "authentic" than the other big centre, Patong, and I knew that hope was kind of a tourist's folly but I just had no interest in Patong. Phuket Town seemed to be halfway between a real working city and a tourist town, but not in a great way, and it illustrated the problem with our whole trip: if I'd wanted to see the "real" Thailand I wouldn't have come to Phuket, yet we didn't want to be stuck in tourist traps. Maybe as inexperienced travellers with a baby this problem is inevitable, but what a waste of a morning.

I did get to try milk tea at a nice little cafe, which was delicious. This was one of the few pictures taken that morning. Yes, I'm still nursing Shuma, which really comes in handy while travelling (especially on the plane), and I was a bit nervous about doing it publicly in Thailand since I knew Thais are fairly conservative and don't appreciate skimpy clothing, public displays of attention, and the like. But I was discreet and always covered up, and although I never saw any other nursing mothers I also didn't notice any disapproval. Who knows what the locals really thought (if they even noticed), but I don't think I caused any great offence.

Lots of Thais really seem to like children, and Shuma got so much attention. He (and we) liked it, but I could see some parents not being comfortable with all all the unsolicited cheek pinching and funny faces. One thing I noticed: I didn't see a single Thai child or baby in a stroller, they are carried everywhere. The tourists I saw with strollers seemed to be having a difficult time on the narrow streets and bumpy sidewalks, and I was glad we hadn't brought ours. I also only saw just one (apparently) Thai baby in a sling, otherwise baby carriers don't seem to be used much. I wonder if it's different in the deep countryside or in more affluent urban centres.

The food stalls we came across seemed to mostly have snacks (are food stalls more of a night thing maybe?) so we ended up at a rather touristy restaurant. Hideaki had fat noodles in soup with shrimp and some sort of lime soda, both good.

Shuma and I shared rice, and it came out shaped like a bear! I saw this a few times, maybe it's standard for kids.

I had larb gai (spicy ground chicken), one of my favourite Thai foods. This was ferociously spicy and very good. So we did get some good food. After that we did the only shopping of the whole trip: I bought a shirt for Shuma at a souvenir shop next to the restaurant, and we got obligatory souvenirs for people back home at a supermarket. The supermarket was pretty fun actually, and I wish we'd bought more stuff. We bought spicy fried broad beans which were amazing and couldn't find them anywhere else when we looked, and they don't seem to be available in Japan. I will have a look at the Asian markets when I'm Canada next month.

Back in Kalim we spent some time on the small beach. We'd been warned that this was a working beach used by fishermen, and that there was no swimming, but there were lounge chairs and parasols and a few tourists in the water. I did find a fishing hook in the sand so wouldn't come back without water shoes or sports sandals, at least for Shuma. It certainly isn't the prettiest beach in the world, but n0t bad for just a few minutes' walk from our hotel.

Here is Shuma eating the best popsicle in the world. Passion fruit flavour, bought from the local Family Mart (this Japanese convenience store chain was all over) for next to nothing, and so so good. I made the mistake of giving some to Shuma before I'd even had half, wanting to see how he'd react to his first popsicle ever. And of course I never got it back. I meant to buy another but never got the chance, and now I would do almost anything for another one.

Dinner was at a local street stall, a semi-permanent one (I wonder if there are different terms for the various types of food stalls?). I had curried pork on rice, and Hideaki had fried noodles, both coming with a simple but tasty soup. I keep saying this about every meal, but man was this good. The stall, like most in this area, was geared to locals but had a sign in English that could be pointed to to order. None of the vendors we bought from on the trip could speak English beyond numbers, but all were either tolerant of tourists or downright friendly. This place was really friendly and they were the only ones that offered us the proper set of condiments (fish sauce, chili powder, vinegar and sugar) for the noodles, other restaurants and stalls seemed to offer them only to Thais (or be too touristy to even have them).

We got a few snacks from another street stall on the way home: deep-fried bananas and sweet potatoes and a fresh mango, all of which made a fine dessert. Too dark for pictures.

More pictures here.

Thailand Day One

Yes, that's right, day one of a vacation we took a month and a half ago. I'm going to make you slog through several posts about the trip, because I took hundreds of pictures and if I post them all at once then your scrolling finger will get all tired out.

So anyway, we went to Thailand last month. This trip was a long time coming, in a few ways. First of all, we've never had a proper family vacation. I don't just mean with Shuma, I mean Hideaki and I. We've been married 12 years, and have done some travelling together, but no real vacation with just the two of us, as defined by getting on a plane and going somewhere tropical or romantic or otherwise nice. No honyemoon even.

Also, I've wanted to visit Thailand for a long time, I guess ever since I fell in love with Asia on a trip to Bali seventeen years ago. Shortly after that I moved to Vancouver, where my aunt and cousins lived, and hearing my cousin Jen talk about backpacking around the world, especially about Thailand, made me want to go even more. You might have heard this story before, so here's the short version: I had big plans to become a world traveller, or at least spend a year or so backpacking through Asia, but funds were short. I ended up in Japan, partly because that was where it was supposed to be easiest to make money, and partly because- Japan! It wasn't my ultimate goal, but it seemed like a cool place to stay for a while. It was, and I stayed longer than I had planned, because I was spending money on having fun instead of saving up for my big trip, and also, I met Hideaki. And I stayed and stayed and never went to Thailand or anywhere else, and the years went by and now I'm too old for backpacking and still don't have the money for it anyway plus I have some extra baggage now (adorable and still fairly portable baggage, but probably not welcome in a youth hostel). I've accepted that I am not ever going to go gallivanting across Asia.

But a package tour to Phuket, the most touristy resort in Thailand? That's doable. It was a typical Japanese tour, which means way too short, but Hideaki was a bit worried that Shuma wouldn't do well on a longer trip. It was six days, but only four actually in Thailand, and it was arranged with the busy Japanese worker in mind: the flights were at night, so on the way we left in the evening and arrived at our hotel at some crazy time like 4:00 in the morning, with a short stop in the completely closed-up Hong Kong Airport on the way. Not a nice way to travel, but Shuma was well-behaved and you can't ask for more than that when traveling with a toddler.

So this is Shuma on our first morning, after just a few hours sleep. He looks pretty good, considering. We're at the hotel's buffet breakfast and he's eating a finger banana, which I got really excited about because Shuma is always starting a banana and then only eating a third of it. But with these little guys he could eat the whole thing! But no, it turns out that no matter what size the banana is, he'll eat exactly a third of it.

We stayed at Kalim Resort, which was not a resort at all but a budget hotel, and it was OK. The breakfasts were pretty good, with a good range of fresh fruit, western-style stuff like pastries, breads, cereal, ham and eggs, and four Thai dishes as well as rice. The pastries were really good, with croissants equal to what we get in Japan (which means way better than in Canada). That was unexpected. The fruit on the first morning included, above, finger bananas, papaya, dragon fruit, green and yellow melon, and star fruit. I discovered that I actually like dragon fruit, and after looking it up it seems that it only gets tasty when fully ripe. So the times I've tried it in Japan it just wasn't ripe yet.

Next was the Thai food: some fat fried noodles, cherry tomatoes simmered in some sort of tasty sauce, park and vegetable stir-fry, rice, and a fried egg with a nice runny yolk on top. It was very mild and I have no idea how authentic it was, but it was fresh and tasty and they did have various sauces to spice it up with.

So instead of a nice relaxing day after our long night of travel I arranged a day-long boat tour. It was awesome though. It was with River Rovers, and we we toured Chalong Bay and a tidal river in a little river cruiser. It was very slow, in a good way, because Shuma is not quite ready for a speed boat and the views were so pretty it would be a shame to rush by them.

This is the captain, Gordon.

We were joined by Barbara from Australia.

And there's me on the deck.

Soon after we took off (set sail? I lack a good seafaring vocabulary) we were served juice and beautifully cut fruit by Luk, Gordon's partner. We were also offered beer but as we were barely keeping awake we refrained. Water was constantly offered as well.

We chugged across the bay, which was a thousand times more beautiful than these pictures show and also a real working bay, with sailboats from around the world at anchor and plenty of local fishing boats coming and going.

Also lots of floating fish farms, which is how many locals make their living. These, like almost everything else in Phuket, were all built after the tsunami in 2004, which devastated the area.

We entered the Mudong River, which is completely tidal- it fills up its entire length and empties out twice a day.

And then we anchored and we paddled over to the mangroves on two sea kayaks. I wore Shuma in the carrier and Hideaki paddled, and we were both a bit nervous, but it was really shallow and there wasn't really much danger (Shuma did have a life jacket on).

Each kayak had a big bowl of bananas, and some hungry locals were waiting for us.

These are Long-tailed Macaques, which are very similar to Japanese macaques (except for the, well, long tails). I was a bit nervous, as the wild or semi-wild monkeys I've had experience with in Bali and Japan were very aggressive, but they were quite timid and gentle. At first we had to throw the bananas, but after a while they were grabbing them from our hands and even coming on to the kayaks. They warmed up much more quickly to Barbara, perhaps because they find females less intimidating (this is certainly true with some monkey troupes in Japan, which are known for attacking women but avoiding men). Or maybe they just liked her better.

 

 

When we'd all had enough of each other we continued up the river. It was pretty but not stunning, and we saw a few birds: snowy egrets, cormorants, and a beautiful kingfisher (three were spotted but I only saw one). I think it was a Blue-eared Kingfisher (there were a few bird and nature guides on board), which is has a brilliant royal-blue back, quite different from the turquoise coloured kingfishers I see in Japan.

 

As a working river there were fishing huts, boat launches and a few other structures here and there, and we were passed by a few longboats (the ubiquitous style of boat seen below).

We had to turn back before we got to the end of the river as the tide was about to change and we didn't want to get stuck. Back near the bay we saw another small tour boat with some folks trying out sea kayaks, which was one of maybe two times we saw other tourists the whole day.

Luk brought out some fries and chicken wings, which were amazing and even though we weren't at all hungry (it was still morning, and we'd had a huge breakfast at the hotel and all that fruit) we devoured them.

  

And you can't have chicken wings without beer. Holy cow, if we weren't suffering from a lack of sleep and responsible for a small child we could have had a lot of this stuff.

The next stop was a floating fish farm. Mostly it was tropical fish that had been caught at sea and were waiting to be sold to the local aquarium, but there were also fish for eating, and lobsters and oysters as well.

We learned the names of them all but I forget, and in any case it was hard to get pictures. These ones above look drab here but the blue markings were quite stunning.

These ones are good eating and apparently popular in Australia. I think these are young ones and they get much bigger.

This is a mix of tropical fish and eels, including a rather disgruntled lionfish. The enclosures weren't as small as they look here- the nets were just pulled up to give us a look at the inmates. Angelfish and a morray eel can be seen below.

This red coral was being grown for the aquarium, and is especially valuable as Phuket had a coral bleach event a few years back and is only just starting to recover.

Jeuvenile blacktipped sharks maybe?

I got to hold on to this one's tail. It felt like an emery board.

I also got to hold this pufferfish!

The lobsters and oysters are raised for local restaurants, and shortly after this our boat became a floating restaurant.

We bought one each, and the owner of the fish farm boiled them and we ate them on the boat. They were quite a bit cheaper than in a restaurant, but not exactly dirt-cheap. They were good and had a lot more meat than I expected, and the flesh in the legs (and feelers even) was tasty. With the clawed lobsters we get in Canada the meat in the smaller legs tends to get overcooked and is usually not worth eating. But Canadian lobsters are tastier overall (and they have claws!), and I think warm-water lobsters are just not as good. Oh my god, I sound like I'm complaining- I'm not, these were good.

I did not expect to eat raw oysters on this trip. These were delicious- very meaty, with a shellfishy flavour, if that makes sense (I mean, no melon notes or sweet flavours like you sometimes get with other types of oyster, just pure seafood flavour), and clean tasting.

 

Our next stop: this tiny little island. It had a small sandbar which became our private beach for a few hours.

 

Shuma napped on the boat for a little while leaving us to swim together for a while, and when he woke up we took turns on the sea kayak.

This was Shuma's first time on an ocean beach and he was a bit nervous at first, but he got used to his new environment pretty quickly.

Yes, that's a big rip in his swim diaper. It's a leftover from last year and I didn't realize he'd grown out of that size since then. I'd forgotten to bring his (and my) bathing suit that morning, but luckily had this diaper on me. Not that he even needed it, on our own private beach.

And I look like a dork in Hideaki's shorts, but again- private beach!

I also didn't realize how silly I looked on the back seat of the sea kayak, I just chose it because it was the deepest and I figured the closer to the water I am, the better. Guess what, nobody complained- private beach! It was my first time sea kayaking and boy was it fun. I would love to kayak from island to island, and some day when Shuma is old enough to come with us (or be left with a sitter) I will do that.

And then lunch. All that food before? Just snacks. Luk first brought out tom yum gung (spicy shrimp soup), which was very good but not nearly as hot as it's supposed to be. Which was appreciated, as I definitely can't handle authentic Thai spiciness, but this could have had a bit more heat. Not complaining- this was excellent!

Next, steamed rice and spicy clams. These little clams were so sweet and tasty.

Pork and egg stir-fry.

Pork, shrimp and vegetable stir-fry. There was one, maybe two other dishes I didn't get a picture of, and they were all amazing. All of them spiced for tourists, although they did contain some chilies and I earned a reputation for wimpiness when I ate one and turned bright red. The problem is that it's hard to tell the difference between sweet red peppers (you can see one above) and the fiery hot ones when they're chopped up small. But the hot ones are very potent!

After lunch we headed to a snorkeling spot. The coral was indeed completely bleached, which was eerie (I saw only two live corals, everything else was greyish white). But there were plenty of beautiful tropical fish and crazy spiny purple starfish. I even saw a few anemones and clownfish, little black ones. Also some tiny needlefish and lots of angelfish, parrotfish, and puffers. Unfortunately Hideaki's mask and snorkel malfunctioned and he had a rough time, and I lent him mine so had to swim back without a mask. Next time I'll bring our own equipment.

Shuma's mask worked just fine, and it took some practice but he eventually got the hang of the snorkel too. Just kidding, he stayed on the boat with Luk.

And then we headed back to shore. By now the bay was quite crowded with returning fishing boats and tourist speed boats (which all looked really crowded and we were glad to be on our slow, spacious little boat). It was a fantastic day and we were sorry the tour was over.

We returned to our hotel and then set out on foot looking for somewhere to eat. We were in kind of a remote area called Kalim, which is north of Patong (the major tourist area on the island). All the restaurants were too fancy and after walking what seemed like forever we ended up at a strip of food stalls. These were completely touristy, but we were too tired and hungry to pretend we were anything other than tourists. This was a Sunday night and later we found out that lots of places are closed Sundays, and the other nights we saw lots of smaller restarauants and stalls open, so we picked the wrong night to look for a place to eat.

So there's Hideaki looking almost asleep, with a lemon shake (they call these slushy-like drinks "shakes" there) and a beer.

We had pad thai, some kind of stir-fry that isn't in this picture, sauteed phak bung (water spinach, that hollow-stemmed green), and tod man gung (fried shrimp cakes). These last two were amazing, and the staff were so nice to us, especially Shuma. He got lots of attention and a toy to play with and a free plate of watermelon, which we felt bad about because Hideaki and I hate watermelon and Shuma could only eat a few bites.

We worked off some of the feast on the long walk home, and slept very well that night.

See more pictures here (and note that some pictures from the tour are not my own).

I love dirt

Here's a t-shirt Grandma sent from Canada with a very gender-stereotyped message. It is also true, and also very colourful so I'm not complaining. You could find many similar things in Japan only they'd be navy or brown or some other drab colour and the English would be wrong or just weird. It would probably say "HAPPY TIME WITH DUST EXCITE!!!" with a few additional phrases to fill up any blank spaces ("BOYS JOY LIFE", "GREAT PLAY", "GO GO VEHICLE!!"). So I like this shirt.

Paired with pants sent last fall (they still fit!), a navy onesie (doesn't fit but I refuse to give up on it) and a backpack, full of his most treasured possesions (snacks, a cat puppet).

Cherry blossoms

I couldn't let spring arrive without a few cherry blossom pictures, and here they are. Really just a few this year, at least of the flowers still on the trees.

Thanks to plenty of wind and rain, and a great big storm, the blossoms didn't spend much time on the trees, and now wherever you go you get to walk on carpets of pale pink petals.

The sight of the petals falling to the ground, like a gentle snowfall, is one of the most beautiful things in the world. Shuma thinks so too, and when he sees a petal falling he points to it and says "bubble". Close enough.

Another sight, less well-celebrated than falling petals, can only be seen when riding the bus during a rainfall at the end of the cherry blossom season. The rain knocks the petals from the trees and then sticks them to the windows of the bus, treating passengers to a close-up botany lesson. Or at least giving them something to look at other than adds for local dentists and pachinko parlours.